By foot no more

Thursday

Mar 5, 2009 at 2:00 AM

By Owen Skoler

On Thursday, Pang Lee discovered police officers would no longer patrol outside her Front Street business on foot.

The next day, the Worcester Police Department closed its Central Division office located a block away from Lee&rsquo;s beauty supply shop after 12 years in operation. The eight officers and one sergeant, who patrolled the Main Street neighborhood around City Hall, were reassigned to patrol duty to fill slots left empty when the just-graduated recruit class was laid off under fiscal pressures.

Police spokesman Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst says there are no mid-range plans to bring back the foot patrols at this time. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re worried that there might be deeper cuts, and we haven&rsquo;t gotten a word yet about what next fiscal year will look like,&rdquo; he says.

Lee fears that the reduction of police presence will produce an increase in crime. She says seeing officers walk by her store on a daily basis made her feel safe.

&ldquo;No more police?&rdquo; The question is followed by a frown and a pause. &ldquo;I am very sad.&rdquo;

Not all of her business peers feel the same. An employee of a neighboring business, who asked for his name and place of employment to remain anonymous, favored the decision to shut down the Police Department&rsquo;s downtown office.

&ldquo;This whole area is commercial. Crime&rsquo;s not a problem here. Isn&rsquo;t this what the president&rsquo;s been talking about?&rdquo; he says, referring to Barack Obama&rsquo;s call to cut excess spending. &ldquo;They should put the police officers in neighborhoods where there&rsquo;s crime, not here.&rdquo;

The WPD, however, does not write off the value of the patrols.

&ldquo;The visibility and presence of foot patrolmen downtown was certainly a good deterrent to prevent crime. Officers who worked in the unit loved working there, and citizens loved having them. It was a successful run. Nobody&rsquo;s happy about the situation,&rdquo; Hazelhurst says.

According to a December report by the Worcester Regional Research Bureau, a survey of residents reflects both the perspectives of Lee and the anonymous employee.

&ldquo;While the data indicate that Worcester is a relatively safe city, the [WRRB] surveys of citizen satisfaction found that there is a perception in the general population that downtown is not safe,&rdquo; the WRRB writes.

The bureau&rsquo;s advice: The city manager should authorize more foot patrols downtown.

But another area business owner disagrees that more officers downtown would make a difference in deterring crime. He also asked to remain anonymous because of what he calls strained relations with the department.

While he admits he likes seeing the officers on the street, especially when schools let out, he says police weren&rsquo;t responsive to his concerns. A few years ago, teenagers broke into his store and stole cigarettes and cash. Since then, he&rsquo;s put bars on the windows, but the bars do not keep teens from yelling racial slurs and harassing the storeowner. He fears the threats will turn to vandalism.

&ldquo;The kids, they just stand around and block the entrance and smoke cigarettes. They threaten me and say they&rsquo;re going to throw bricks through my window. They tell me to go back to my country,&rdquo; the storeowner says. &ldquo;I tell the cops, but they say they don&rsquo;t want to get involved.&rdquo;

Hazelhurst&rsquo;s reaction to the criticism is that some citizens will always be critical of the police regardless of the circumstances.

Paul Jennette might have the best perspective of business owners in the area. His store, Central Shoe, has operated at 37 Mechanic St. for over 100 years.

Like Lee, he is sad to see officers leave the neighborhood, but he understands police presence might be better suited elsewhere during tough financial times. He doubts the foot patrols did much to curb actual crime, which he says is minimal in the neighborhood. But the storeowner says that&rsquo;s not what the foot patrols were really about.

&ldquo;They were a friendly presence downtown,&rdquo; Jennette says. &ldquo;I think [the foot patrols] were really good for elderly people who would come downtown. [The patrols] made them feel safe. The [officers] stood outside and talked to people on the street. It made downtown feel like more of a community. &hellip; They&rsquo;ll be missed.&rdquo; o

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